‘Listen to Him!’

The wind whistled sharply out of the southwest. It had been a cool evening, and this wind set the young woman’s nerves on edge. Or maybe it wasn’t the wind at all. More likely, it was the crying. There had been a lot of commotion in the neighbor’s stable last night, strange lights, muffled voices, and then the crying. A baby’s cry had pierced the darkness of her room.

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It was a plaintive, powerful cry for one so young, almost as if he were struggling for his voice to be heard above the noise of his birth. She had been up early and discovered that a young couple had settled in the stable for the evening because the town had been so full.

“I suppose it was the best they could find,” she thought. “And none of my concern. But why can’t she keep the child quiet? It must be her firstborn.”

The woman had plenty of her own work. She was too busy to bother with the nighttime distraction further. Because of the tax enrollment, she had many relatives staying with her, and they required a lot of attention.

Yet, the voice of that child . . .

“It’s a baby!” Her son burst through the door, his face aglow.

“A baby?” she replied. “Yes, I know. I have ears.”

“But this baby is different somehow!” He had been peeking in the stable door. “He is different than any other baby I have ever seen.”

“He is different, all right,” the woman answered curtly. “He makes a lot of noise about his birth. Now, get to your chores.” With that, she turned to her work and put the voice of the child out of her mind.

Some 20 centuries later, many people think little more of Christmas than that, a lot of noise about the birth of a child. It does get noisy in the weeks before Christmas. Much of the noise is static. It is frayed, unfocused noise that muffles the voice of Jesus. When does Wal-Mart cue up the Christmas carols, right after Halloween? The Salvation Army bell is clanging. Clerks are wishing us a politically correct “Happy Holidays.” Children are chattering about this year’s sensational toy. Hollywood is barking over its year-end offerings. The family is arguing about where Christmas dinner will be consumed. And Wall Street is whining that we haven’t spent enough this season. Amazingly, we are rarely cognizant of this noise. It is all in the background. We live with it, without taking stock of its spiritual toll.

 

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		On Contentment

	1001 Orphans

	A New Phase for Operation Barnabas

	A ‘Greatest Generation’ Servant of Christ

	‘Listen to Him!’

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